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Ogier
Ogier are a race of non-human creatures who have an intense love of knowledge. They are also great architects and stonemasons, responsible for many of the most impressive structures and cities of the world. Ogier stonework is known for its organic nature, often appearing to have been grown like plants. Their first love, however, is forestry; they love the trees of their stedding, and grew groves near the cities they built to remind them of their home. Even their written language resembles growing leaves and vines. Ogier stand about 10 feet tall ("half again as tall as a man"). They have broad noses, wide mouths, and long tufted ears. Ogier are also very long lived compared to humans: Loial, who has been traveling with Rand al'Thor, is considered by his elders the impetuous and irresponsible equivalent of a 15-year-old human teenager, despite being 90 years old! Ogier from the mainland are a peaceful and reclusive race who rarely leave their stedding. While the Ogier still visit larger cities to maintain their ancient stonework, the more remote areas have relegated them to myth and legend. Their society emphasizes rationality and slow, thorough debate; they deplore haste and abhor violence. However, when roused to anger they make unflinching, steadfast warriors; the common saying "To anger the Ogier and bring mountains down on your head" suggests the difficulty of provoking an Ogier--and also the danger. Ogier are tied to the stedding''since the Breaking of the World; during the upheaval, they were forced out of their homes and wandered the land for many years, seeking new ones; as a result, the entire race was instilled with the Longing; any Ogier who venture away from the ''stedding for too long will die. Ogier also live in the Seanchan Empire far across the Aryth Ocean; very little is known of Seanchan society or how the Ogier function within it, except that a division of the Empress's Deathwatch Guards is composed solely of Ogier 'Gardeners', who carry huge axes and apparently do not have the same reservations against violence as Ogier in the mainland. Seanchan Ogier also do not appear to suffer from the Longing, possibly because they were not separated from their stedding during the Breaking. In order to protect themselves from the Longing, the Ogier, with the help of the male Aes Sedai, grew a strange network of portals called the Ways. Waygates stand just outside every stedding, and every Ogier grove in any Ogier-designed city, and allow rapid transit to other Waygates, shortening to several days journeys that would otherwise take months. However, in recent decades, Machin Shin, the Black Wind, has appeared within the Ways; this hungry, irrational presence devours anyone or anything it encounters. Furthermore, the Ways themselves are deteriorating: well-maintained stone paths and gardens, once spiraling majestically into warmth and light, now crumble into bottomless darkness and pitted, bare stone. Finally, as some of the northern stedding have been consumed by the Great Blight, the Shadow's forces now have access to the Ways, and they are sometimes used to quickly move troops across vast distances (although the presence of Machin Shin has made this a risky maneuver). Category:Races and Nationalities